Staff Sergeant(R) Douglas “Eck” Eckstein is a former Paralegal NCO with over eleven years of service in the Army. He has served overseas tours in Korea and Iraq. Eck served on active duty for seven years working in the personnel administration field then, after a break in service, returned to active duty in 2009 when he earned the Military Occupational Specialty, 27D (paralegal). He has worked in the Office of the Staff Judge Advocate from Division level down to unit level. He has expertise in all aspects of military law, with extensive emphasis in Administrative Law and Soldiers Rights.“I am not an attorney and any views presented are my own and are not to be interpreted as legal advice. Furthermore, my views do not necessarily represent the views of DoD or its Components.”

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Comments

Mike

Eck

Tuesday, 29 January, 2013 at 3:07

To clarify, there is no such thing as probation, in either Article 15 proceedings or a court-martial proceeding. There is a suspension of punishment in both type of proceedings. Since Garry did not state whether he was charged under Article 15 or a court-martial, I presumed he meant Article 15, since this is the most common.

I covered the max suspension time of punishment for Article 15’s in my original answer, however, the following applies to the various level of courts-martial:(1) Three months for an SCM.(2) One year for an SPCM in which a bad-conduct discharge (BCD) was adjudged.(3) Two years or the period of any unexecuted portion of confinement (that portion of approved confinement unserved as of the date of action), whichever is longer, for a GCM.

There are other rules that apply when a Disciplinary Discharge, death, or life without parole is adjudged.

Also, it is courts-martial when referring to all levels of court-martials at one time. As in, The Manual for Courts-Martial, which stipulates how each court-martial, Summary, Special and General will be conducted.

It is court-martial when referring to one specific proceeding, as in, “Your court-martial case.” or “The Summary Court-Martial will be held today.”

I hope you found this information useful.Eck“The views presented by the author are his own and do not necessarily represent the views of the DoD or its Components.”

Disclaimer: I am not an attorney and any views presented are my own and are not to be interpreted as legal advice. Furthermore, my views do not necessarily represent the views of DoD or its Components.

Mike

Eck

Wednesday, 23 January, 2013 at 21:22

Garry,

I need some more information. You do not provide enough details.

When an appeal is made, before the Article 15 is sent the the appellate authority, the imposing commander has the opportunity to change his punishment. The imposing commander can only keep the punishment the same or lessen the punishment. I am making a pure guess here that the imposing commander imposed some type of punishment, that when you decided to appeal, he changed it a suspension of that punishment. Meaning, as long as you stay out of trouble and do not violate any provisions of the UCMJ during the suspended period, the punishment will not be executed (See AR 27-10, paragraph 3-24).

However, a suspension may only be for maximum of six months, unless it is a summarized Article 15, then the suspension can no longer than 3 months.

This may or may not be your case. If you could provide additional details, what the punishment originally was, what it was changed to, etc. that would help. You also have the right to speak with TDS. If you were given a Company Grade or Field Grade Article 15, you should have been provided the opportunity to speak with TDS before punishment was decided. Hopefully, you did not waive that right. I would suggest you speak with TDS about the change in your punishment. They will be able to assist you as they will know the particulars of your case.

I hope you found this useful.

Eck“The views presented by the author are his own and do not necessarily represent the views of the DoD or its Components.”

Disclaimer: I am not an attorney and any views presented are my own and are not to be interpreted as legal advice. Furthermore, my views do not necessarily represent the views of DoD or its Components.

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